wife reality new center ten the chemical weapons have reportedly been used in a rocket attack that killed twenty six people in northern syria both the opposition and the government blaming each other for the assault. by the vent here angry crowds you're seeing ringing the cypriot parliament demanding the rejection of a tax that would see savers bailing out banks that levy could see people lose up to ten percent of their life savings or for cyprus to qualify for these pictures being broadcast live from the parliament now by artie's roughly video news agency or that streaming online to. express his concern over the ongoing hunger strike in guantanamo bay despite authorities efforts to play down the protests we've got the latest there this hour. busy news night a series of bomb attacks through baghdad killing dozens and injuring hundreds as iraq struggles to get back on its feet on the tenth anniversary of the u.s. led invasion.

good evening this is our kevin oh it's good to have you company our top story a rocket attack on a town outside aleppo in syria's north has left dozens dead including sixteen government soldiers details about what actually happened on the ground within but there are reports that chemical weapons could have been used both the syrian government and the opposition are accusing each other. it was in the country recently she joined me a little earlier in the studio as is often the case over the last ten years with a surprise in syria each side is accusing the other one and these accusations sound quite similar we are hearing from syria's news agency national news agency that the rabble have fired a missile containing cameco agents in the country's north not far from syria's biggest city a laugh or a scene of devastation violence over the last year and that the attack. has killed

dozens of people and this is almost a direct aid of what we're hearing from a u.k. based opposition group syrian observatory for human rights the only differences beyond me is behind this attack i've contacted several people on the ground some journalists we used to work with in syria and they've also confirmed that these have friends but it's very hard to verify at this point exactly who is behind the attack and how many people happened just we seem to be hearing neverending claims and counterclaims it keeps going around a big circle doesn't it now absolutely and it's very hard for journalists even those working on the ground to to cover this conflict because there are always contradicting each reports contradict each other i remember when i was in hama in two thousand and eleven in august when the uprising has just started. a video appeared on you tube showing dead bodies being thrown from the cities to the range and they were two descriptions for they speak to one say that these are the rabble

zz and the other one saying that these are policemen well people of the regime and when we came at the scene when we arrived in the city of hama i mean it was just impossible to get the information on exactly what happened despite all the diplomatic efforts it's still continuing absolutely and the war scene is that we've seen often intensification of violence and had a big international meetings on syria maybe you remember a massacre last may. when it happened right on the eve of u.n. general assembly and in that respect the syrian opposition exile has just nominated a prime minister who is expected to fill a seat prepared for him at the arab league meeting in qatar and again we see intensification of the violence in what do we know about the prime minister not actually very much on cato fifty years old he's a syrian born naturalized american. he's been living in taxes for decades he is of

the executive and came to prominence working with a humanitarian agency during the war and of course expectations are very high that were very high that i mean these nomination cooed how stop the flights in the country. riffing off of me but earlier will journalist neil clark who's written extensively about syria says it's no accident had to spend a large part of his life in the us before being voted in as opposition prime minister the americans want to make sure that when president assad falls they got their man in damascus and they cherry picked and uniquely voted by thirty five and it's quite ludicrous to argue this guy has the right to rule syria where is president assad whether we support him or not does have a sizable support in the country which is why still in power and so i think the answer your question the u.s. wants this man as an ideal sort of leader opposed to sack to take power and obviously to do the things expected of him which would be to open up this your economy to u.s. multinationals to productize economy and of course to great with hezbollah to break

with iran will be lunacy and madness for political president assad's forces to use chemical weapons and so if you know we've heard that chemical weapons has been used it has to be by the rebels and if that's the case then obviously that will highlight the hypocrisy of the u.s. and the west because they said let it be a red line that chemical weapons are used but only seems to apply if president assad's forces use them the syrian army and so we've got to be consistent on these chemical weapons to use them it's wrong and the rebels are using a should be indicted for war crimes to a small clock there let's discuss the latest events in syria with r.t. contributor afshin rattansi joining someone from london even to see him so first he's been elected head of the opposition coalition in syria as we've been mentioning how will the various rebel groups react to him do you think. even the free syrian army his own spokespeople are questioning the authority of this guy who won by three votes in there is stand all this as he said earlier an american i.t.

consultant president obama is somewhere over the skies above the atlantic ocean on his way to israel i wonder whether it will give any pause for thought certainly his top chief of staff general dempsey says that the situation in syria is more opaque than ever echoing kind of calls from berlin it seems that france and britain are out on a limb supporting this man but he says that he won't negotiate with the assad government is not going to be a slap in the face of peace well it's always been the case that certainly london and paris said there must never be a negotiation as did hillary clinton the former secretary of state and of course mr assad has repeatedly said that he wants a political solution and is prepared to talk with the rebels even as the war rages on and of course we have to all i'm sure lots of your viewers will be wanting to give their condolences to those people killed in this chemical attack in aleppo absolutely there is some lack of clarity on what's out tonight we have heard some

reports. one of the side saying that it may have been an organic pesticide that was . getting on top of that but assuming it was worst case scenario well these people are dead it is worst case scenario but assuming that chemical weapons were used what does it mean for the conflict now. how ironic that ten years to the day since a war in iraq because of a lie over w m d and we have a w m d attack then the lie from tony blair was w m d would attack british barracks in cyprus it seems like western capitalism was destroyed cyprus and the w m d if it turns out to be the case is being supplied to rebels backed by anglo french forces basically if it turns out to be w m d it's the french and english again using w m d in the middle east what would reaction then be from the us if that was proven to be true if it hadn't happened well as i alluded to dempsey seems to be signaling and certainly the fact that he said that in the past few hours just as president obama

goes to the middle east and talks to his israeli friends in tel aviv i think this is significant and i think the rebels themselves will be seeing it as significant the election of this man as head of whatever country the british and french are recognizing as syria. doesn't pales into insignificance compared to these key facts are now emerging both from the state department from berlin and other places i wonder what the saudis and the turks will be thinking but certainly who knows even tel aviv and ron and all the people in the region who are interested in peace ironically in syria because of the threat of fundamentalist islam rearing its head in a secular state maybe there can be some kind of negotiation that occurs but certainly not with this mr hitto personally with his m.b.a. from indiana university while still a time as well as we reach the second anniversary of all these bad things that are

happening in syria still the worry about conflict creep going into lebanon lebanon the last twenty four hours has condemned what it says was a cross border jet attack by syria is it likely the country's going to become embroiled in this conflict. well i think neighbors in the middle east may be looking at things slightly differently because of that latest development these are only elements within the lebanese coalition in beirut so the fact that they're criticizing the outside government for cross border incursions shouldn't be taken as seriously as the possibility of rebels terrorists insurgents whatever they called those fighting the government launching attacks on syria from lebanon obviously with the aim of widening the conflict to the hezbollah or to the equation . but i don't think many people in doubt would be in doubt after seeing the two thousand and six victory of hezbollah over u.s.

backed israel that once you get as buller in on the action. see position confirmed with ever certainty and this nato backed attempt to overthrowing him would have failed i should return to see things from the program tonight. safe is it tonight taking the bailout money who'd streams the e.u.'s given side personal to me to be there for savers to save banks or go bankrupt many cypriots now stand to see up to ten percent of their life savings and raised and secure indebted banks with a bailout from brussels let's cross to artie's tess ryssdal of more what's happening in the mediterranean isle tonight a lot happening judging by the pictures we're seeing some confusion as well the tests are over when the parliament will actually vote on the tax what are you hearing there first of all when it's going to be about twenty four hours time now we hear it could even be as soon as a couple of hours time. well that's right oh i'm sorry here front of the parliament and on the same street on either side actually there are

a lot of protesters gathering to voice their protest against that a one time back deposit tax that has been imposed from brussels and also over the weekend now what we gathered is that the members of the government party had asked for a delay on the vote however other parties had denied that request and therefore the vote is expected to go on tonight ted around ten pm local time here however the people the chance to have been getting louder over the hours you see a lot of posters lot of signs against the troika against the european union against germany in particular they feel that the country has been amma cornered into a position where they don't really have much of a choice but to actually just say yes to what has been imposed that we remember this tax is part of the ten a billion euro bailout deal that was handed down by brussels on the condition that this one time tax be imposed on holders of any deposits in a cypriot banks and this will affect not just locals but also foreigners who have a money in the banks here so that's how the situation stands a lot of

a lot of opposition from the people who feel that they really they're being used as an experiment of sorts of remember this is the first time that an actual dipping into the savings of people has been suggested by the eurozone finance ministers it was a red line that that people didn't think would be crossed but now they are cross one of the chants of the protesters here they're saying we are first you were next essentially just saying that if it could happen to cypriot citizens it could happen to other citizens of eurozone nations latest lines in an address sherrilyn bush the senior official of cyprus his finance ministry said nicosia wants to explore other avenues of financing it to lessen the burden of these extraordinary measures also of course we know the banks a close another two days the stock markets closed till thursday the immediate effect overall is uncertain what does it leave cyprus the ordinary people inside present much with choice of the. no no not really and in fact if we could put it in one word it's pretty much

a mess right now if we if you talk to different parliamentarians they have different ideas of how to move forward from where they stand at today now what is happening in cyprus now really is another it's a crack in a very fragile a road to stability of the euro zone nations foreign investment as i mentioned earlier coming from russia or the u.k. it could be it could be in trouble as well and moving forward as some of the parliamentarians i spoke to earlier were suggesting a third way possible no other solution does that does not involve the troika they're just trying to scramble here to find a solution that would please all parties involved. of course most of all the people who are still out on the streets protesting what they think their leaders are not making good decisions for them in a worrying time for so many people the test for sort of have to speed. and just as well that the supreme parliament now than jus to vote on the proposed cuts are about twenty hundred. but united kingdom independence party m.e.p. nigel faraj spoke to me he says the talks should be nothing short of theft if it

does go through. cyprus is now the fifth country out of the seventeen that's needed to be bailed out and that is why the germans extracted the terms that they did but i must say even in my diaries predictions in this parliament over the years about the way the e.u. bosses were behaving never did i think that they would in a completely unprecedented manner resort to stealing money from people's bank accounts and they know that once one country goes the whole deck of cards will come tumbling down and countries like germany will realize absolutely vast losses possibly as much as one trillion euros so so they are prepared now to do anything literally anything to try to keep the euro afloat and that is why they've now resorted as i say to what can only be described as theft and now they've done it in one country they're quite capable of doing it in italy spain portugal or anywhere

else in the message that sends to people who've got savings in banks in those countries certainly if i was there is get your money out don't invest in the euro zone do not invest anywhere in the euro zone you've got to be mad to do so because it's now run by people who don't respect democracy they are propping up a euro zone which in the end is going to collapse in disastrous failure are they are prepared to do anything to do so i think that this decision this german dominated and led decision is the worst decision we've seen so far in this whole eurozone crisis. and so far as i just remind you the riot police have formed ranks have side the cypriot parliament in nicosia let's take a look at those pictures as it debases a new tax on savers tonight demanded by the european union these live pictures this is to see you seeing there being streamed live parties new ruptly video agency you can catch more those pictures online as well if you keep abreast of it cypriots as

i've been saying could see up to ten percent of life savings are raised by the new levy which is a tax on bang. deposits there is have a severe opposition among the public that as you say tonight protests and runs an a.t.m. says people attempt to get their money out of the banks the stock exchange they closed until thursday banks close for another couple of days well very much cross this tonight stay with us for the latest. wealthy british style. by. market. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds

a report on our. logan at least fifty six people have been killed and over two hundred wounded in a series of bombings across baghdad the attack stroke mostly shiite neighborhoods in the city officials say they've been at least ten separate incidents including

suicide car and roadside explosions in busy areas all within one hour one of the deadliest attacks struck near the heavily fortified green zone the seat of many government buildings and embassies and it was officially said they did it yet but sunni militants have been stepping up their attacks in the country aiming to destabilize the government there souls comes a rat marks ten years since a coalition led by the u.s. and britain invaded the country with freedom and democracy mission ati's lucy capital as well. at this hour american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. this was the freedom they brought shock and awe bombs over baghdad what the pentagon billed as a quick war to liberate iraq turned into a prolonged nightmare. ten years of bloodshed war occupation and deadly sectarian strife drained by afghanistan exhausted by iraq for washington the battle

is over for a decade of war that's cost us. and over a million dollars. nation we need to build is our own but what if the nation they left behind. no we're not happy biggest regret the iraqi people are destroyed and the infrastructure is devastated the country is ruined. these graves are a visual reminder of a decade of human strife almost everyone in this country has lost somebody whom they love no one knows exactly how many iraqis have been killed since the invasion and estimates range from more than one hundred fifty thousand to over one million for years the u.s. claims not to keep body counts but how do you mohamed has kept count his four sons and only grandchild were killed in a suicide blast. how am i doing i raise my sons and some of them get mahdi's and

send them to universities i watch them die you ask me if it's better or worse now compared to ten years ago i still have my sons ten years ago so i think the answer is obvious. others have seen their dreams of a brighter future shattered by years of violence. i was top of my class but when circumstances became very bad after the occupation i feel that something was broken inside of. my ambition and everything i used to dream of becoming a doctor or an engineer but conditions prevented me from continuing my studies but an education is no guarantee of work less than forty percent of iraqi adults have a job and a quarter of families live below the world bank's poverty line statistics that haven't improved much since the days of crushing u.n. sanctions in the one nine hundred ninety s. elections may have brought democracy to iraq but critics say the government is rife with corruption and infighting. despite the various that's occurred in the time of

the former regime it is not comparable to the number of thirty is by the politicians and the current government. and more troubling perhaps idling going divisions of this occupation separated out into tribes a better place the political structure of the tribal one which aggravated the political conflict which i see no good in this kind of regime and. today iraq is facing a new political crisis there's tension on the ground between the sunni provinces and the shia led government as well as between baghdad and the kurdish north i think if these issues are not resolved it can lead to more significant problems including conflict which can lead to i think the breakup of iraq and destabilization the region. and an upsurge in violence is sparking fears of a return to sectarian strife new figures show that death rates have actually risen since the last american soldier left iraqi soil. how long will iraq remain like

this every day there are explosions every day there is killing every day there is terrorism. explosion after explosion iraqis have asked themselves that same question for most of the last ten years to speak out of r.t. iraq. we're just going to go to have a conversation about that in a second however we've got a news line through saying that in. the last couple of minutes cyprus has indeed rejected the the whole tax scenario that was being talked about now we've got more on that to come in just a minute or two but someone that's just through we want to confirm it before we bring you any more than slaves you know at the moment ok now let's get back to iraq for more than a ten year occupation and write a story to norman solomon author of the book war made easy is director of the institute of public accuracy ice a busy night the suffering of iraqis is obvious but it could have been worse if

saddam hussein had stayed in power no well if you're in washington and you're in the a log like dick cheney you're then you try to get what you want and it doesn't matter how many people have died and suffered but if you look at it in terms of magnitude or suffering there's no doubt that vast clean more numbers of people have died. in terrible situations because of the u.s. led invasion that's just reality and we're getting a lot of spin out of washington trying to in some way justify inundation which was not just a fireball by international law or by any humane standards. analysts say it was all about oil we've spoken to someone earlier on tonight who reiterated that and that the but a strategic position in the middle east billions of dollars and thousands of lives later it was it worth it for the u.s. . well it depends on what the measurement is if only american lives are worth that

and that would be one calculus if we talked about everybody's lives and in terms of the magnitude of the suffering then it's clearly been a humanitarian disaster of huge proportions even if you count just the americans who died several thousand of course many more injured that is well it's not justifiable when you look at the actual consequences of the invasion let's remember that the initial afternoon of this invasion and was o.-i l. operation iraq liberation oriole is not a good. brand for an invasion that supposedly was for humanitarian purposes clearly oil was part of the reason for the invasion but there were geopolitical and other reasons as well over the past years they have been growing calls for the us to withdraw from iraq now the troops out of it are ever more terror attacks from to

report them every day on civilians should they have state with hindsight. well you know with hindsight the best solution would have been not you send an invitation and in the first place now oh it's a very bad situation where there are no good options and frankly i think daniel ellsberg of the pentagon papers whistleblower was quite correct years ago when the occupation wasn't close when when he said it us complete withdrawal of military troops from iraq is a terrible option and all the other options are worse that's what happens when you are lying on war to try to solve problems there are a billions of dollars in aid pouring into iraq is it doing the country any good. it's doing or no good. and others are running the government there is giving us huge profits but no on the hall ah there's very little down that's reaching the

average iraqi person and of course the violence in you is not important to washington but very important of course the people who live in iraq nobody sullivan author of the book war made easy director of institute for public accuracy thank you very much and you know just to bring you the line again we're just hearing that cyprus m.p.'s have voted to reject that controversial levy on bank deposits this is part of the e.u. i.m.f. bailout that's the only loan we've got through so far we're going to move details on of course within the next few minutes we'll keep you fully posted. u.s. taxpayers are probably asking how much more they'll have to spend on iraq on top of what's already been pouring in the thinking of eight hundred billion dollars continues to rise with coal smiling every second from dealing with returning personnel to the broader social and economic impact of the war and this is now it takes a closer look than at the numbers. the decade long war in iraq may be officially

over but american taxpayers are still paying for the cost of the invasion let's talk numbers the u.s. has spent more than sixty billion dollars in reconstruction in iraq so far that works out to about fifteen million dollars per day overall cost and other aid adds up to seven hundred and sixty seven billion dollars since the american led invasion and that's according to the congressional budget office but national priorities project a u.s. research group they estimate the real cost at over eight hundred billion dollars and they add that some funds are still being spent on ongoing projects and that number continues to rise every second now a major problem it seems is that all this cash the u.s. is coughing up isn't falling into the right hands or projects iraqi prime minister nouri al maliki says funding could have brought a great change in iraq but there was misspending of money i want to give you some examples of this missed spending if you can call it that there are too many to name

but here are some that i think really stand out in iraq's diyala province the u.s. began building a prison in two thousand and four but abandon the project after three years to flee a surge in violence now have complete facility cost american taxpayers forty million dollars but since in rubble and there are no plans to ever finish or use it according to the justice ministry also subcontractors overcharged the u.s. government thousands of dollars for supplies take a look at this control switch the u.s. pays nine hundred dollars for that when it's actually valued at just seven dollars eighty dollars for a section of a pipe that is actually valued at just a buck fifty and when you're talking hundreds of billions of dollars nine hundred bucks of course sounds like small change but obviously it's adding here's another one why spread fraud led by a former u.s. army officer cost tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks. nectar to government

contracts for bottled water twenty two people were criminally convicted would still tens of millions of dollars in contracts for bottled water but for iraqis they're paying a different cost a government rife with corruption and in finding near daily deadly bombings still blast baghdad streets and a quarter of the country's thirty one million lives in poverty and the to any who has represented several guantanamo bay prisoners says many of them remain behind bars even though they were cleared long ago that statement said that quote while aware of some of the allegations of mistreatment of inmates said to have been provoked to have provoked the hunger strike which includes undue interference with inmates personal effects we are still trying to confirm the details unquote that was a statement coming from the un's office of of commissioner for human rights now the statement.